Augmented Reality Adds New Dimension To Vivid Sydney 2018

Vivid Sydney 2018 is sadly coming to a close so make the most of the last few days of the world’s largest celebration of light, music and ideas and check out the hidden art.

For the first time in its 10th year history, Vivid Sydney featured augmented reality (AR). The idea is simple – you unlock Hidden ARt and discover artwork stories through the Vivid app’s AR camera.

Sponsored by Coca-Cola Australia, Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross plays host to a secret art gallery with Hidden ARt – Augmented Garden. Using the AR camera feature, users can return to the site and unlock TAFE NSW student artworks each week throughout the festival.

Inspired by the works of some of Australia’s great contemporary and past sculptors and visual artists, Augmented Garden will transport visitors into the artist’s imagination as they walk amongst vibrant sculptures in a new age media installation. Augmented Garden will treat visitors to 14 installations that depict such diverse pieces such as an echidna, dancing figurines, a birdcage, flowers, a windmill, snakes and other exhibits that will amaze and delight.

“It is a completely new way of interacting with art,” said Paul Willey, COO of Sydney-based immersive media agency, AR Technologies. “It’s the coming together of art and technology in a totally engaging and interactive way.”

The new AR feature can also be used as a festival guide. When near an installation, app users can use the AR camera to locate a floating Vivid Sydney information icon. Upon tapping the AR icon, contextual information about the art will be revealed, providing visitors with a greater understanding of the meaning behind the installation in front of them.

Join the fun at Vivid and check out the great light installations

To encourage visitors to explore as much of the festival as possible, the new Vivid Sydney app will include a gamification feature this year. Each time a user visits a new precinct, their progress is automatically tracked and logged as a ‘digital passport stamp’ in their personalised app. Once a user visits any 4 of the 10 festival precincts, they’ll go into the draw to win 1 of 5 Samsung Galaxy S9+ smartphones.

Sydney comes to life during Vivid Sydney

With a focus on simplicity, personalisation and immersion, the new Vivid Sydney app allows festival visitors to easily navigate, discover and tailor events to their interests.

Paul Willey from Sydney based firm AR Technologies said: “From the start, we shared Destination NSW’s ambition to educate, delight and engage the audience in a new way, and I think the addition of augmented reality and game mechanics in the 2018 app which we redesigned has achieved just that.”